Roberts denies waterboard charge

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) is denying a CIA claim that he gave the go-ahead to destroy tapes that showed agency officials waterboarding terror suspect Abu Zubayda, disputing a recently released CIA document that claims the former Intelligence Committee chairman knew about plans to destroy waterboarding evidence.

In a Feb. 4, 2003, briefing that included Roberts and one of then-Vice Chairman Jay Rockefeller's top staffers, CIA officials told Roberts that they intended to destroy the tapes.

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"[CIA Deputy Director for Operations Jim] Pavitt and [CIA General Counsel Scott] Muller briefly described the circumstances surrounding the existence of tapes of the Zubayda debriefing," a summary of the briefing says. "Muller indicated that it was our intention to destroy these tapes, which were created in any case as but an aide to the interrogations. ... Senator Roberts listened carefully and gave his consent.”

Roberts said he never signed off on destroying the waterboarding tapes.

"At no time did Senator Roberts assent to the destruction of any videotapes. Sen. Roberts today called on the Justice Department to release all the memoranda that exist regarding briefings for all members of Congress," Roberts spokeswoman Sarah Little said. "As the memorandum clearly states, Sen. Roberts received his initial briefing on the CIA interrogation program on February 4, 2003. He was briefed by the CIA’s General Counsel that the interrogations were lawful according to the National Security Council and the Justice Department, including the Criminal Division and the Attorney General.”

When the existence of the tapes was revealed, Rockefeller said he had "limited information about the existence of the tapes, we were not consulted on their usage nor the decision to destroy the tapes.” But according to the CIA documents, Rockefeller’s staffer was supposed to brief the senator about the waterboarding tapes and the plans to destroy them.

A special prosecutor appointed by the Justice Department is investigating whether the CIA officials who destroyed the tapes broke the law by eliminating material that could have been used as evidence in a federal trial. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment about whether Roberts and Rockefeller are or will be involved in the probe, citing the ongoing investigation.

The CIA document also says a staffer asked about former Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham's request for a congressional investigation into the enhanced interrogation techniques program — an idea Roberts quickly dismissed.

The senator interjected that he saw no reason for the committee to pursue such a request and could think of 'ten reasons right off why it is a terrible idea' for the committee to do any such thing has has been proposed," the document says.

CIA briefers walked Roberts and the Rockefeller staffer through a detailed description of the "enhanced" interrogation techniques that were used and described the "inappropriate" interrogation of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole.

"The enhanced techniques were described in considerable detail, including how the water board was used. The general counsel described the process by which the techniques were approved by a bevy of lawyers," the document says. "The senator was briefed by Pavitt on the events surrounding the inappropriate 'interrogation' of Nashiri. These included the cocking of a pistol (reportedly unloaded) near his blind-folded face, and the brandishment of an electric hand drill (at this, Senator Roberts winced)."